Dancing in Fred's honour
by ViolaMoon
Summary: The aftermath of the battle of Hogwarts leaves Harry, Hermione and all the Weasleys emotionally exhausted. A mysterious visitor calls Harry to action. They had forgotten to celebrate their victory and they needed to dance.


**A/N: Submission for the Houses Competition**

**House: **Ravenclaw

**Year: **7

**Category: **Standard

**Prompt: **[Prompt] Dance party

**Word Count: **1764

Lord Voldemort was dead. The lost had been given a chance to be mourned, and the injured had been treated. Harry joined the Weasleys back at the Burrow after they had arranged for the bodies of the fallen to be returned to their loved ones for burial. He felt particularly guilty for their loss - it was him Voldemort had been after.

The next few weeks had been a string of funerals, one after another. First was Fred's, followed by a joint burial for Remus and Tonks, then Lavender Brown, and the list went on. The morale in the Weasley household was lower than ever and, even though the greatest evil wizard of their lifetime was defeated, and Ron and Hermione had gotten together and Harry and Ginny were back together, the general mood in the house was sombre.

"Well, that was the last one," Harry said as they apparated back in front of the Burrow. He loosened his tie and ruffled his hair out of habit. A look of emotional exhaustion was clear across his face. He placed a hand around Ginny's shoulder as he guided her into the house, Ron and Hermione following in succession. The funeral of Colin Creevey had been particularly hard on them. He was a classmate of Ginny's, and Harry remembered that Colin had adored him just for being him and was genuinely interested in how he was doing. He should have given him more of his attention.

"Let's get inside and have a quick cuppa before bed," Ginny said, using her wand to fill the kettle and placing it on the stove. Four tea cups were placed on the table, ready for them and, before long, they sat silently looking into the pool of their tea, the light brown depths of the liquid warming them up just as much as the drink itself.

The silence spoke many words; the sadness of the departed, the exhaustion of the last year, the uncertainty of what would happen now. It seemed like life had stopped, and they had forgotten what it meant to live. The silence followed them as they went to bed. They stopped at the door of the room where Fred and George had spent their childhood - it was Harry's now. He said goodnight to his three companions, giving Ginny a tired kiss on the cheek before heading off to bed himself.

The room still looked the same as it had when the twins lived there; there were scorch marks on the walls and floor and various pieces of paper with plans for their joke shop. Since Fred's passing, Harry had taken to sleeping in George's old bed - he just couldn't bring himself to sleep on that side of the room. Changing quickly into his pyjamas, he slipped quietly into bed.

Despite how tired his body was, his mind was wide awake. Now that they had put their loved ones to rest, they could all move on with their lives. But how would they do that? The question played on his mind until he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

It seemed hours later when he woke up, disoriented and confused. Moonlight shone in through the window, casting a silvery glow on the room. It was there that Harry noticed the man sitting on Fred's bed, looking at him with a grin on his face. He saw the man's red hair and freckles, for a moment he wondered what George was doing there, why was he sitting on his dead brother's bed in the middle of the night, creepily smiling at him?

It was then as he sat up, that Harry noticed his left ear. It wasn't George.

"Fred?" Harry said shocked, his eyes growing wide, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you, of course, you daft bugger," Fred said with a cheesy grin, "What else would I be doing?"

"Well, we buried you last week, you're dead," Harry added, getting more and more confused. What was going on here? Was he going mad?

"Well, I am." Fred stated, "I was just about to go on a pranking spree with the Marauders when I decided to get a peek at how the old family was doing. But I was shocked. How come you haven't celebrated the victory?"

Harry looked at him, wondering now whether Fred was a ghost or whether he was just seeing things.

"Well, there were a lot of funerals to take care off, we were all devastated when you died. George has been locked up in your old flat since the funeral. Why didn't you go visit him instead?

"Harry, I've tried. He won't listen, so I need to tell you instead," Fred said, his face turning serious. "Don't forget to live. You have done a great thing, and that deserves to be celebrated. Besides, I don't want you all sitting moping around, how boring is that?" Fred asked, looking at Harry with an exasperated expression.

"Now, I want you to throw one heck of a blowout, invite everyone and dance your sorrows away. Get my twin out of the flat and get the git dancing. You must remember to celebrate the good times now that the bad times have ended. Now wake up and get to work!"

With that, Harry woke up with a start. He looked over at Fred's bed with a sense of urgency. It was empty and untouched as daylight now shone into the room. It had all been a dream? But it had seemed so real.

* * *

He stood up as they all gathered at the breakfast table. "We have forgotten something very important," he told them and watched as they looked between each other, obviously wondering what he meant.

"Please don't tell me that we have to go to another funeral!" Ron said exasperatedly while still taking a bite of his toast.

"No, no. Colin's was the last one. We haven't celebrated the victory. We have grieved the fallen and comforted the injured but have we even for a moment celebrated the fact that we won and that we survived?"

He watched with slight amusement as it dawned on each of them. "You're right, Harry!" Ginny said, looking over at him. "What do we do then?"

Molly rose and seemed to busy herself with the dishes, scrubbing them by hand even if some of them weren't finished eating.

"Mrs Weasley..." Harry moved over to her and saw that she was crying. He pulled the woman who was like a mother to him into a hug.

"I know that everything with Fred is so new and it still hurts, but he would want us to celebrate. We have our whole lives to miss him, but we need a moment of happiness in this time of loss. We survived, we should celebrate that fact." He held her hands as Ron and Ginny came over to give their mum a hug as well.

"Fred would want to celebrate, he must think we're absolute bores," Ginny said, "Mum, let's have a party, invite everyone and just give thanks for the fact that we survived."

Harry grinned at Ginny's remark - Fred _did_ think they were bores. "We must not forget to live." He smiled at his friends and surrogate family.

"Oh, alright, you can have it outside, since the weather is so nice and then there is less to clean up after." Molly gave him and set them all to work to prep for the party.

* * *

The music blared out in all directions and was so loud that the Muggles in the neighbouring villages all were looking in every direction for the source of the disturbance. Harry had chosen the music, a large selection of Muggle music, easy to dance to and enjoy themselves. With the help of Arthur, he had enchanted a Muggle stereo to play without power and continuously. Hermione had added a charm to play a song that suited the mood of the party so there was a good mixture of energies and everyone would enjoy themselves.

Harry found himself slow dancing with Ginny; he held her close and felt grateful for this moment. They were alive, they were safe and they were together. "Knut for your thoughts?" Ginny said, pulling her head away from his shoulder as she looked up at him.

"I was just thinking about Fred, I hope we have done him proud today," He said, looking towards the house where he could see his bedroom window.

"Well I know a way we can make it even better," She said with a devious grin to rival her twin brothers. She pulled him by the hand, tapped her wand on the stereo as a dance anthem swapped out the slow song. She then let go of Harry's hand, ran over to George and whispered in his ear.

George grinned and walked to the end of the field they were using as a party space. Harry watched as firework after firework filled the sky, a happy feeling swelled in his chest and he ran over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting and pulled them onto the dance floor.

"Harry!" Hermione complained, "I wanted to watch the fireworks."

"Dance! We are alive," he said waving his arms around and shaking his hips.

Ron roared in laughter, "You call that dancing - have you been hit by a curse or something?"

"I would like to see you do any better!" Harry challenged him, continuing to swing his limbs around like the Whomping Willow.

Soon they were joined by Ginny, George and Charlie who all started dancing, each in their own way, but all just as bad. Soon they were all drunk with laughter, Harry had taken Ron and Hermione's hands in his and was swinging them around in a circle until they were utterly dizzy and fell to the floor.

They were soon joined by the other Weasleys who looked up at the stars and continued to laugh. "Do you think Fred would have been proud of us?" Harry asked George, as they sat up for a moment to catch their breath.

George smiled, and Harry realised that it was the first time he had seen him smile in a long time. "I think so, he's probably jealous that he isn't here and that he didn't think of this."

Harry smiled knowingly, "Well, the night is young, and we have a lot of dancing to do!"

He stood up and started dancing again and was soon joined by everyone else. They danced for life, for love and for Fred. They remembered to live.


End file.
